Yea the theory was valid, but in practice it didn't work very well. And yes, if you were to increase the working pressure of the internal mechanism, you'd have to increase the pressure feeding it as well.

Well first off, the air pressure in the bladder serves ONLY to rotate the barrels. The air burst that actually fires the dart is created through a system of valves and springs inside the reciprocating mechanism above the bladder, and the pressure of THAT system cannot be changed by any easy means. Increasing pressure of the bladder will only increase rate of fire, not range. That said, you can hook up a external power source (CO2, your own pressure tank etc) in the way that Cxwq described.

The fact that the point of release for the air burst is halfway between the outer and inner barrels is just a matter of efficiency. It would be far too complicated and inneffecient to have the nozzle move back and forth from one barrel to the other each shot, likewise confining the nozzle to one "ring" of barrels would halve the number of shots you can have. This is just a mechanically (though not very aerodynamically) efficient solution to those two problems.

I think barricades would help, especially on the grassy knoll and near the flag planter like Ray said. I don't see why you are complaining about the Alamo Josh, I mean with as open as that area is, losers dominated the games. We didn't even play in there last time though.

BTW here is my count: Me, Jordan, Steph, Matt, my other friend Jason (couldn't make it last time), and probably Steph's friend Bran. So definately 5, possibly 6.

>shrugs<

I never said I was very mature.

ICQ message log says I havn't talked to him since October.

He doesn't nerf anymore, he hasn't been in the scene for years. He's still around though....if you live in Vancouver that is.

A firewire card and some sort of editing program is really all you need to get started. The "smaller" DV port is just the other end of a firewire cable, they're all that small, the larger end goes into the card. If you had the card and software installed, you'd just go into the record function of the editing program once the camera was hooked up and powered on. Then you'd put the camera in VCR mode and just play back on the camera. The footage should show up in your editing program's record window, where you can then record it to disk. Make sure you're got a good chunk of hard drive space though, full quality DV footage (and no, you do NOT want to compress it) takes up about 1 gig per 5 minutes or so (if I remember correctly). Premiere is a good editing program to start with because it's very easy to learn to use for the professional level editing programs. There are a lot of simpler "consumer" level editing programs that don't have nearly the same functionality, but are good for, say, your grandparents. And while it IS much better to get a nice firewire card, my brother got a D-Link Firewire card for $30 and it works fine.

If I may ask Cxwq, how did you get your hands on Avid? I'm looking for a copy too, I hate having to go to the editing labs.

my grand father didn't like the adjectives but he was glad that you helped.

Yea well if I had known I was talking to your grandfather I would have been considerably more respectful.

Cxwq: If you need any help let me know, I'm certainly no expert on it though....

Ok but that doesn't quite answer my question....was my discussion on software enough or would you like more detail? On the software front, there really isn't a lot more I can say. If you want more detail about the hardware, I can go into excrutiating detail.

Overturned card tables are nice, but not very tall. Go to home depot, get a bunch of PVC and a bunch of couplers, and build 5-6 foot high rectangular or square frames, held upright by PVC supports, and then cover the frames with dark fabric. It'd be light, quick to assemble, and more versatile than cardboard.

Thank that helped alot but What would be good soft ware. i got this one thing one windos xp but i know that thing sucks. what sould i use?

Did you even READ all of my post? Go back and read the second half again, I talk TONS about what software to use. And yes, Windows Movie Maker included in Winxp sucks balls.

Despite what Mac-freaks will tell you, PC's are just plain faster for editing. Yea Final Cut is cool and all, and I even kinda like OSX's UI, but the fact of the matter is that Mac hardware is about two generations behind PC hardware. I don't think Macs totally suck, but I mean look at any digital video editing website and read the benchmarks, dual Athlon or even single P4 systems will kick the shit out of any dual 1.5 Ghz G4 Mac in almost all multimedia apps, even Photoshop.

For multimedia stuff (video, games etc) Pentium 4's are faster than Athlons, though they are more expensive, buy at least a 2.5 Ghz P4, faster is better. Buy a P4 board that uses DDR RAM and buy GOOD DDR RAM (Corsair makes awesome stuff), and then run it at the highest stable memory timings. Do NOT buy less than 512 megs of RAM, and if you can go for 768 megs, do that. RAM is your friend, and video editing eats it like fucking Cheese-Its. Definately get a nice graphics card (although that will help more in gaming than video editing, but it's still important). The Radeon 9500 Pro or 9700 Pro are good cards, Geforce 4 Ti4600's are almost as good and cheaper. You'll need a fireware card and maybe a analog video capture card. Don't get just any cheap fireware card, get a nice one. I have a Pinnacle Systems Studio 700 series firewire card, which is MADE for video capture, and it rocks. Pinnacle Systems also makes a firewire and analog (read: RCA jacks) video and audio capture card for like $300 that's everything you'd need in one. Next you'll want a fast fucking hard drive. SCSI is just too damn expensive, get a Western Digital Special Edition 8 Meg Cache hard drive (sizes from 60-200 gigs, the 120 gig is the best value and a good size for serious video editing), that drive will beat many SCSI drives. If you can afford it, buy two identical ones and stick them in a RAID array (striped for double the throughput speed, or mirrored for backup). Next comes a decent sound card. The Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX is the most feature packed card out there, but IMO Creative sound cards have shitty drivers. I have a Gametheater XP which I fucking love and you can buy pretty cheap these days, which will do almost everything the Audigy 2 can. Phillips also makes the Acoustic Edge card, which is good, as is the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Buy a really nice monitor if you can afford it. IMO LCD's still aren't worth the price, as the cheaper ones can have ghosting problems with games and poor color balance. Buy a really nice flat screen CRT monitor, which can do at LEAST a 80Hz refresh rate at 1280x1024 resolution, run it at as high a refresh rate as you possible can, your eyes will thank you. Get a descent pair of headphones (I have a pair of Sennheiser HD500's which are the best $99 I've ever spent), and a nice optical mouse with a good mousing surface (I prefer the Ratpad, ratpadz.com, but others prefer different things). Oh, and get a CD-RW drive, they're so freaking cheap now theres no reason not too. Wait on the DVD burners, when blue-laser DVD burners become more mainstream in a couple years they'll be the thing to get.

Next is software. Currently the de-facto standard video editing software in the industry is Avid. If you can, scrounge up a copy of Avid Express DV (it's fucking expensive), and you'll be set, although it's NOT very user intuitive at ALL. I have (and really like) Adobe Premiere 6, I think it's much easier to use though it does have some bugs. Final Cut Pro is good but it's only for Macs. You don't want to be using any other video editing software, you'll just be wasting your time. If you want to do serious audio editing, I can't recommend enough Sonic Foundry's Vegas Audio (now called Vegas Video). It's the easiest to use (and still very powerful) professional level audio editing program I've used. Pro-Tools is the industry standard audio editing program, but it's expensive and hard to learn. Just like Avid, since the two are made by the same company.

Now looking back over this I'm sure this is a bit over the top for what you were thinking, this is just coming from a film major who does this stuff like every day. If you're not going to be as serious as that you won't need all that. I mean really, slap Premiere 6 and a fireware card in any >1Ghz PC and you have a video editing system, it just depends on what you can go for.

Oh, and GOD HELP YOU if you are using anything BUT Win2k or Winxp. Don't even tempt fate by trying to edit on a Win9x computer, it's kind of like sticking your finger in Satan's ass.

I think I may have gone a bit overboard on this post.....

Dude, ask the LCM, I totally went gun kata all over them last war. Fortunately when the dvd comes out I'll already have my new tv. Can you say 50" rear projection LCD? That combined with my 6.1 channels of surround sound goodness should make for an enjoyible viewing experience, better than the theatre.

VACC

I'm going to steal your home theater system Vacc. And if you try to stop me, I'll kick you in the nads. So be it.

You just can't go wrong with the AT3K, I mean really, it's like the perfect assault gun size. Six semi-auto shots, excellent mod possibilities, and it's like $20. The AT4K is too big and ungainly, and the AT2K, while an excellent gun, is only $5 cheaper than the AT3K for 2 fewer shots, and no auto-rotation.

The tapering probably leads to less air turbulence and therefore higher pressure. As long as it is a relatively short length of tapering you should be fine.

Yea, basically the gun just plain fires high. Always does. You just have to adjust for it. Most people can get used to it after a while, to this day I NEVER have been able to, which is why I don't use a LnL.

......this would assume that you wanted ball ammo in the first place which.....would be ridiculous.

Kuhlschrank? As in Der Kuhlschrank=Refridgerator auf Deutsch? Sprechen Sie auf Deutsch ja?

>goes to beat the war drums....can't find them and gives up<

Fucking sweet! Thats the Saturday beginning my spring break! I'm so there dude.

All I know is, the "Chapman Defense" was rock fucking solid....

OMG I'm so fucking sore.....YANO was awesome, best war I've been to in a long while. Perfect amount of people, good wars, and I was finally using a gun that can *gasp* HIT people.

Dude, just when I do a really cool mod, YOU have to go and do it BETTER. Fuck you man. :>

After the war tomorrow once I get my PETG, I'm re-doing my AT3K with 6" PETG barrels. The brass will do for tomorrow though.

With brass unfortunately, with almost all FBR you need 9/16". It isn't always perfect, but it's usually better than any other size.

>looks innocent and unaware, checks his watch<

I'll be there with Jordan, Steph and my friend Matt. My right eye is swollen and I'm chafing already (in anticipation no doubt), but I'm looking forward to it, it'll be fucking rad! See you at 9am! (makes darts)

I suppose I could get my friend Ann to pose nude with nerf guns, but I don't think she'd want me posting the pics on the internet. I think she kind of draws the line there. Although.....

If terrorists ever attack my city, I'm calling a code brown and shitting my pants.

Thats just about the funniest thing I've read in a week.

I got the PETG shipment today...

Fucking rad!! Oh if only I had the time to mod my AT4K before the war.....damn.

Well seeing as how it's actually been raining down here the past couple days, this might actually be an issue. I'm guessing you'd want to war anyway even if it rains, right Cxwq?

And I, on the other hand, am completely down with premarital sex.

Spoon's Official Ruling Concerning Sex: It's fun. If it gets boring, add another person. Fun is good.

You don't. You get a pair of pliers and rip the pin out.

Dude, asses won't just be kicked, they'll be desecrated.

Sorry but I'll be completely unavailable from the 20th through the 24th as I'm doing the sound mixing on a graduate thesis film then (and the next 2 weekends thereafter), sorry dude.

I use a 35,000 RPM dremel with a diamond cutting wheel. Cuts through brass like warm butter, but it gets HOT. Use gloves. Oh, and theres always the risk of cutting off a finger. I tried hacksawing it but just couldn't do it very easily, I think my hacksaw blade is designed for wood or something.

Hell yea for Ziggy Stardust, I've been listening to that album in my car non-stop for like a week.

Yea it's great, I was testing it more today and comparing it to my Splitfire. Range is probably equal, but the AT3K, even though it's barrels are 1 inch shorter than the SF's, is MUCH more accurate. I mean I was able to hit the same 1 foot square from 40 feet almost every shot, whereas the SF has a spread, and isn't accurate against a person much past 30-35 feet. With 5 pumps (rather than 4), the 3K has more power than the SF and the same accuracy, but that 5th pump will give you a workout, and I don't want to burst the tank. Still nice to know though if you need that extra special long range love, that you have another 10 feet of range at your disposal. When you pump the gun the first time (and the barrels rotate) with the trigger NOT held in (just like you would normally), the mechanism actually locks the barrel cylinder in place, it cannot be moved forwards or backwards until you fire the gun, meaning having the barrels rotate by themselves while running won't happen if you've pumped. My ONLY problem with the gun (although it isn't even with the gun proper) is that the darts will fall out of the barrels if held down, so just make sure you take care to hold the barrels slightly elevated as you run. Most people do that anyway. PETG tubing should be awesome in this because due to it's thicker walls, it should fit snuggly in the barrel nubs without needing a layer of electrical tape. From the looks of it, you should be able to just jam them in. I don't even need a ramrod for the gun, for the darts that don't just fall all the way down, blowing works fine. I need a ramrod for my SF because of the 1cm sections at the base of each barrel that hold the darts firmly in place so they don't fall out while running when the gun is holstered. My guns rock now, I'm so excited.

Oops, forget the title, I have a brass AIRTECH 3K now, not a SM3K. Anyway....it went really well actually, I put 5" barrels on it. Havn't tested max range yet but it shoots the 45' across my downstairs with no drop at all on 4 pumps (plugged release valve of course). I was able to get the barrels totally rock steady, it's actually pretty easy. It's basically the idea that someone had in the Airtech Mod Roundtable Discussion topic (I forgot whose idea this was, look it up). When you look at the barrels, about a third the way up from the base of them is a seperation (a line) in the plastic. Take out your hacksaw and saw all the barrels off at this point. Look inside the stubs and pull out the little plastic bits and springs. If you look in there you'll see that theres about a 1cm ring section inside the barrel stub's wall. Just get a flat head screwdriver and pry the little sections out. The brass will then fit loosely in the barrel stubs (which are about 1 inch). and after wrapping the base of the brass in electrical tape, they fit extremely snuggly, I didn't have to use any adhesive whatsoever. Then at the point where that center hexagon thing supported the old barrels I just wrapped sections of an old thick rubber band with some electrical tape around the brass barrels at that point, so that the center pole thing prevented them from getting pushed in towards the center, further stabilizing them. If you do it that way the barrels will be rock solid and straight. I also totally dismantled the innards of the gun and it's rotation mechanism, mostly just out of curiousity. As long as you take your time and make sure you understand how it works (nerf guns are so ingenius) before you unscrew stuff, it really isn't that hard to get it back together. I didn't have any problems, but then again I'm pretty smart. The rotation mechanism works fine with the brass. If you hold the trigger in and just pump (thereby rotating the barrels each pump) over and over they won't advance right, but when you pump and fire it normally (read: not while holding the trigger down) it has never screwed up for me. The mechanical latch on this gun is MUCH more efficient and reliable than on the old SM 3K's. The 5" brass barrels make the gun quite accurate as well, although it seems to have less power (though probably similar if not greater range, oddly enough) than my 6" brass barreled Splitfire, which I attribute to the Splitfire's much higher working pressure, longer barrels, and fairly similar tank capacity. On the AT3K, with the valve plugged and the liquid guage left alone, 4 pumps is ideal for me. I can get 5, but the fifth pump is really really hard, and barely a full pump. I love this gun, I'm looking forward to using it against small children. It'll be quite nice to be able to hit what I shoot at, for a change....

My brass AT3K is now complete, my guns are working in perfect order, I can finally HIT the person I'm trying to shoot at, I will destroy you all......

I seriously can't wait until next Sunday, this war is going to fucking rule.